Visitor Counter

Visitors Since Blog Created in March 2010

Click Below to:

Add Blog to Favorites

Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions.
This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization.
Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

Trail Dust: Rattlesnakes are subject of much Southwestern lore

Rattlesnakes are not one of my favorite creatures in this Southwestern homeland. But I’ll be the first to admit that they add something of interest to the region. Around them, a huge body of lore has accumulated.

Most people, I suppose, have a natural fear of rattlers, because they are venomous and so kill human beings from time to time.

In fact, the 16-year-old son of my great uncle was struck in the calf by a Texas diamondback down along the Nueces River. It happened in a remote area, and before they could get the boy to a hospital, he died.

I thought of that once when I was hiking on rough trail in the Canadian breaks of the Panhandle. Suddenly, I heard a loud whirring, and there coiled on a rock was the largest rattlesnake I’d ever seen.

It was as thick as my upper arm and would probably have measured 6 to 7 feet stretched out. Wanting to avoid a second snake death in my family, I made a wide detour around him.

During my cowpunching days in Wyoming, I would sometimes have to drive cattle through thick stands of buckbrush. You could hear the buzzing of rattlers to the right and left, but seldom see them. They would be on my mind, and sometimes when I had bedded down by the campfire, I dreamed that a snake had crawled under my saddle, which I was using as a pillow.

I’d awake suddenly and come flying out of the blankets. Then I would make a search to be sure Mr. Serpent was not sharing my bed.

That sometimes happened to old-time cowboys, especially when they were camped out in cold weather. Rattlers, seeking warmth, would move into their bedding and go to sleep.

To discourage that, the men often surrounded their blankets with a prickly hair rope, laid on the ground. They firmly believed that snakes would avoid slithering over such a rope, since the scratchy bristles tickled their bellies.

I never put much faith in that old superstition. And besides, my up-to-date catch rope was made of smooth nylon, so it wouldn’t have been much use as a snake shield.

In going through the burial records of colonial New Mexico, I’ve noticed a number of cases in which the cause of death is rattlesnake bite. The Spanish settlers must have known numerous folk remedies for such biittes, but the only one I have discovered is a poultice made by cooking cockleburs.

At a later day, Anglo fur trappers spit tobacco juice on a fresh bite, convinced somehow that it diluted the venom. Another remedy, universally prescribed on the frontier, was the drinking of whiskey. While it might temporarily ease the pain, in the long run alcohol caused the bite victim more harm than good.

Frontiersman Nelson Lee, in his memoirs, tells of a cure that saved his life in the 1850s. He had just dismounted from his horse in a mesquite thicket when an enormous rattlesnake struck him in the ankle.

As he recounted it: “A sickening, dreadful sensation came over me, terrible beyond all force of language to convey. With the prospect of dying in such an abominable way, my nerves became completely unstrung.”

According to Nelson, a Spaniard in his party who had witnessed the incident came up and quickly killed the snake. Then he began cutting portions of flesh from the still wriggling monster and applying them to the bite.

“I could feel the reptile’s flesh draw, and in a few minutes the white poultice thus applied changed to a perfect green. These applications proved effectual, inasmuch as I suffered nothing from it afterwards save a slight soreness.”

The dread and loathing of rattlesnakes experienced by most men meant that the creatures were usually killed on sight. Drovers walking beside their ox teams kept an eye peeled for snakes, and upon spotting one would skillfully take off the head with a well-aimed snap of their heavy bullwhips.

Early-day prospectors along the Pecos River were always poking into shallow caves in the cliffs, looking for signs of minerals. Sometimes they would encounter a snake cave, filled with a seething mass of rattlers.

The usual response was to toss a stick of dynamite into the opening, reducing the rattlesnakes to hamburger. To what extent the long war against rattlers has depleted their numbers, we can only guess.

Folklorist J. Frank Dobie once wrote a book called simply, Rattlesnakes. It is the most readable source I know dealing with snake lore in the Southwest, and I can recommend it to all those with an interest in pursuing the subject.

Two Massachusetts Eastern Coyotes at their den site

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada

Aldo Leopold--3 quotes from his SAN COUNTY ALMANAC

"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."

Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Aldo Leopold

''To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering."

Wildlife Rendezvous

Like so many conscientious hunters and anglers come to realize, good habitat with our full suite of predators and prey make for healthy and productive living............Teddy Roosevelt depicted at a "WILDLIFE RENDEZVOUS"

Recent Posts

Blog Disclaimer

This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer. In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time…I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of my various thoughts and opinions, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not be the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today. All data and information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Rick Meril and WWW.COYOTES-WOLVES-COUGARS.COM make no representations as to accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this site and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis.